About CD players....
At the end of the year last year, my 7th graders were SO GOOD...that I let
them bring in their CD payers (with head phones) if they donated money for a
fundraiser we were having for a student who had high medical bills. I think
I might try to do it again for my seventh graders. Maybe bring in money to
support the food bank --or some other community project. I, too, did not
allow sharing of CD's --nor did I allow them to go get them (players) if
they forgot them in their lockers. I will have to approach my administrator
to see what he thinks. Maybe if the 8th and 6th find out about this
reward--they will shape up a bit. 6th and 8th are good--just a bit too
chatty for my liking.

This is a bit of an old idea for everyone in our group, but I am sharing it
because it makes a popular gift (holiday time?) or very large holiday card,
kind of like handprints ... because parents love these to save. They can
trace each other's silhouettes, and then cut them out, glue them on larger
paper after. If you glue it inside a large folded piece of paper, then it's
like a large card.

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Profile Silhouette
from the book, Global Art (Gryphon House), by Kohl and Potter
printed with permission http://brightring.com/profile.html
Young artists cut out a silhouette of a friend's profile using a common
desk lamp, black paper, chalk and sharp scissors.

FRANCE
Did you know?
Although silhouette art was part of Roman
culture, the French are credited with the
side view or profile view of a person's head
and shoulder. The silhouette is directly cut
from a piece of paper and presented as a
simple form of a portrait.

Process
1. Arrange a chair about a foot from the wall.
2. Then place the lamp a foot from the chair and arrange the lamp
shining towards the wall. Test the lamp to see if it shines on the
wall.
3. Tape the black paper to the wall where the light is shining.
4. Ask a friend to sit on the chair with one ear towards the wall and
the other towards the light. Test the silhouette to find if the
light shines to make a sharp outline of the person's profile. If it
does not make a clear profile, rearrange the chair and the light.
5. The person must remain very still while the profile is traced.
Trace the profile with white chalk.
6. After the profile is completed, cut out the profile on the chalk
line.
7. Glue the profile to another sheet of paper of contrasting color
such as white for the finished profile silhouette.
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